In a world flush with instant communication via Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram, is it any wonder Pope Benedict XVI has taken to the social media sphere to share the Good News?

Last year from his iPad, the Holy Father used Twitter (@news_va_en) to announce a new Vatican website, and has since tweeted messages to thousands of faith-filled followers.

The Phoenix Diocese isn’t a stranger to the tidal wave of mass media. Its Communications Office leads the diocese’s internal and external communication initiatives to ensure the Church’s priorities are effectively expressed in a variety of ways between Church leadership, churchgoers, employees, parishes, schools, the public and the media.

A component of the communications strategy that is quickly growing is the diocese’s social media outreach, which boasts digital initiatives spread out over several of the popular social media websites, including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and Vimeo.

Robert DeFrancesco, director of communications, said vehicles used for communication and evangelization include the “critically important” Sunday Mass, broadcast live from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral — alongside The Catholic Sun newspaper and website, Catholic radio and various websites.

Platform for the Church

Giving voice to the Church’s mission is the annual Catholic Communication Campaign. Catholics locally and nationwide will participate in the annual collection, taking place during Masses May 19-20. Half of all donations received from local parishes will directly benefit the diocese’s communication efforts.

“Today’s mainstream media and popular culture are increasingly hostile to Christians and religious liberty,” DeFrancesco said. “The Catholic Communication Campaign provides the Church a platform that cuts through the noise of what’s in the mainstream.”

DeFrancesco said donations to the Catholic Communication Campaign primarily support the Sunday Mass broadcast, which serves elderly and homebound Catholics who are not able to be physically present at Mass.

He said that some 65,000 people tune in each Sunday to the live television broadcast. The Mass is also simulcast on 1310 AM, as well as over the Internet, reaching thousands more.

“Thanks to the web, we are now bringing the Word of God to 900 cities across the United States and more than 100 countries around the world,” DeFrancesco said.

The national campaign ensures that the voice of the Church is broadcast over television, Internet, radio, newspapers and podcasts.

“Those who generously support the Catholic Communication Campaign understand the importance of Catholic media,” DeFrancesco said.

The task of sharing the Catholic Church’s worldwide vision and Gospel message of Jesus through mass media is as varied and diverse as the people who receive it.

The local audience includes 820,000 Catholics, 92 parishes and 35 schools; however, millions of Catholics gain a deeper understanding of their faith through resources they use every day.

Ana Sill, media relations specialist with the Communications Office, said social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have helped the mission of the Church.

“We are able to share important news with the Catholics of the diocese and around the world almost immediately,” Sill said. “Also, it allows our department to be more mobile. We don’t have to be sitting at our desk to get something out. We can post things from our phones, too, and share news and pictures in real time.”

DeFrancesco said it’s important to keep in mind that the diocesan’s mass media services are made possible by the generous support of the Catholic Communication Campaign.

“As Catholics, we are called to be evangelists — to bring the Gospel to the masses. It is critically important to be where the people are,” he said.

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A Catholic voice

The diocesan Communications Office is well versed in providing informed news, thoughts and perspectives on matters of faith and the intersection of Church and society.

It has a distinct Catholic voice that offers unique Catholic perspectives locally, nationally and internationally.

Each Sunday, the Catholic Mass is broadcast live from Ss. Simon and Jude Cathedral at 9 a.m., on KAZT-TV (AZ-TV7, Cable 13), followed by local talk show, “Catholics Matter,” hosted by Fr. Rob Clements.

Every Monday the diocese’s locally produced radio program, “The Bishop’s Hour,” takes on current issues from a Catholic viewpoint.

Hosted by Michael Dixon, it is broadcast at 11 a.m. on 1310 AM Immaculate Heart Radio.

Listeners can catch an encore presentation every Thursday at 9 p.m. Information is available at www.thebishopshour.org.

The Catholic Sun newspaper is published once a month, with timely updates on the Web at www.catholicsun.org.

Catholics can stay connected with the Phoenix Diocese online at several sites:

• www.diocesephoenix.org
• facebook.com/dioceseofphoenix
• phoenixdiocese.tumblr.com 
• twitter.com/phoenixdiocese

National and local Catholic leaders are roundly criticizing President Barack Obama’s statement of support for same-sex marriage.

He made the statement May 9 during a television interview. The Catholic Church teaches that marriage by definition is meant to be the exclusive, life-long commitment between one man and one woman and that sexual activity outside of marriage is sinful.

In December 2010, Obama said his views on same-sex marriage were “evolving” and said that he would continue to ponder the issue. An Associated Press story May 10 quoted Obama as saying he wanted to announce his support for such unions “in my own way, on my own terms” but acknowledged that earlier remarks by Vice President Joe Biden prompted his announcement.

On May 6, Biden, a Catholic, said he was “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex couples marrying, adding that they should get “the same exact rights” heterosexual married couples receive.

Some critics questioned whether Obama’s May 9 statement in favor of same-sex marriage truly represented a so-called evolution in thought. Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, pointed to Obama’s previous record as proof that the president has supported same-sex marriage in the past.

“In 1996, when Barack Obama was up for a state senate post in Illinois, he said he supported gay marriage. Eight years later, when he set his sights on the U.S. Senate, he discovered his Christian roots and said he was against it,” Donohue said.

Donohue also referred to Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign in which he stated his opposition to homosexuals marrying, but also opposed Proposition 8, a ballot initiative in California that affirmed marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman.

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York, president of the U.S. bishops’ conference, said Obama’s May 9 statement in support of same-sex marriage was “not surprising” given his administration’s previous actions “that erode or ignore the unique meaning of marriage.”

Mike Phelan, director of the Office of Marriage and Respect Life Issues for the Diocese of Phoenix, agreed.

“It’s alarming to see the leader of our country come out in favor of redefining our most fundamental, cornerstone institution,” Phelan said. “To see it in print by the leader of our nation — it’s the first time it’s ever happened — is sad and yet not surprising.”

Phelan said the effort to move the United States toward legalization and acceptance of same-sex marriage is a preliminary step toward an ultimate goal of removing the male-female distinction.

“We really have to help people understand what is at stake in fundamentally redefining the most basic institution in human society,” Phelan said. “Already in some of our institutions of higher learning, there is the refusal to acknowledge merely two genders.”

Phelan said this drive toward relativism in the area of gender represents a desire to “obliterate the image of God.” Obama’s statement in support of same-sex marriage will “change education, change religious freedom, and will confuse young people particularly even further about what the family is.”

‘Staggering’ shift

Some of that confusion regarding the meaning and purpose of marriage is already being seen among Catholics of all ages. A March poll conducted jointly by the Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service found overall Catholic support for same-sex marriage to be 59 percent, with 36 percent of Catholics opposed.

Support by Americans overall is at 52 percent, with 44 percent opposed.

Ron Johnson, executive director of the Arizona Catholic Conference, the legislative arm that represents the Dioceses of Phoenix, Tucson and Gallup, N.M. as well as the Holy Protection of Mary Byzantine Eparchy of Phoenix, wasn’t surprised by the national poll numbers showing majority support among Catholics for same-sex marriage.

He recalled, however, the way poll numbers regarding same-sex marriage shifted dramatically in Arizona after strong catechetical efforts.

Back in 2008, Arizona voters were considering an amendment to the state constitution barring same-sex marriage. Two months prior to the election, support for the amendment among church-going Catholics was a dismal 44 percent.

“During September and all of October, however, the bishops worked on a number of different high-profile projects that changed these results dramatically week after week,” Johnson said.

Those efforts included a joint statement in favor of the amendment by the Arizona bishops, a video endorsement by Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted that was read at all Masses, and the distribution of 100,000 copies of Bishop Olmsted’s book, “Catholics in the Public Square.”

By the end of this broad catechetical effort, there was a nearly 40 percent swing in the number of churchgoing Catholics supporting the marriage amendment. Post-election polling showed 82 percent of church-going Catholics voted for the amendment, which ultimately passed.

Johnson called the active Catholics’ response to the education effort on behalf of marriage — and the accompanying shift in poll numbers — “staggering.”

Springboard

Donohue used Obama’s statement of support for same-sex marriage as a springboard to encourage similar action at the federal level.

“The time has finally come to pass a constitutional amendment affirming marriage as an institution reserved to the only two people who can naturally produce a family, namely a man and a woman,” Donohue said.

Bishop Olmsted said the debate regarding same-sex marriage needs to be viewed in light of the true meaning and purpose of marriage.

“It’s a question of who we are as human beings, what does it mean to be a man, what does it mean to be a woman, how did God create us and what is marriage,” he said. “Marriage is a God-given institution. It’s not created by governments — it’s recognized by governments, just as the right of human freedom is.”

Bishop Salvatore J. Cordileone of Oakland, Calif., agreed that marriage is not a partisan issue.

“[It’s] a matter of justice, fairness and equality for the law to uphold every child’s basic right to be welcomed and raised by his or her mother and father together,” he said.

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Catholic News Services contributed to this story.